Robert Bohnenblust popularly known as Bo runs the iconic Raja Café in the heart of Khajuraho. It was founded by two Swiss sisters, Betty Bohnenblust and Joy Judah, Bo’s grandmother and grand aunt, respectively, in 1978. Gilles Bohnenblust, Betty’s husband that makes him Bo’s grandfather, played an important role in the making of the café.
Bo is silent yet very engaging. He talks like a native to a native and a foreigner to a foreigner. To me he comes across as a person well-formed and informed, a deep sense of self-realisation, makes him deal well with people of all hues and descriptions.
While Gilles enjoys a cult status in this part of the country, Raja Café has become integral to the experience of Khajuraho for tourists, Indian, foreigners, the nirvana seekers and hippies out to explore the world come here and relax, it has a charm of its own that gives weary traveller the space and solace to assimilate their experiences. After all, India is a land of a mosaic of rich and myriad experiences that challenge a traveller in unfathomable ways, is particularly true for Khajuraho. The balcony on the first-floor of Raja Café overlooks the temples famed for celebrating erotica as a path to nirvana, and in this way challenge the prevalent notion of the divine showcasing in artistic and most explicit fashion that bhog can also be akin to yog.
Though in the hospitality industry and, therefore, deals with so many people, locals and travellers, Bo is famed for his tacitness. He likes to keep to himself, but is not asocial. He doesn’t utter a word unless its required or until a conversation interests him, or he is asked something directly. Despite his genial aura, he has a strong presence in the life of the people he’s in touch with, be his partner Appu, friends like Vicky and Deepak who I met, or people who work for or with him, guests and the locals—many of them may not know him, but all know of him.
Such is his personality, Bo's silence is loudly heard even in party settings where spirited people sit around a bonfire by the sedate Ken River on a winter evening after sundown, the bamboo tree illuminated by warm light in the backdrop is a beautiful sight as the mist settles low on the horizon. We partied in his farm in Mandla village of Panna district, half an hour drive from Raja Café, and will soon start hosting guests. Bo has inherited the farm from Gilles who built the famed tree-house here. It was washed away in the floods a couple of decades ago.
Bo grew up here with his grandparents, a Swiss family that made India their home. The history of this association has shaped the present in a significant way. Bo’s grandparents came for a honeymoon in 1949, fell in love with the country, and decided to spend all their married life in India. Gilles purchased 20 acres of farmland near Panna and settled with Betty and Juda.
Gilles is famed not just for establishing Raja Café or building the tree-house but also for his infectious laugh. He lived here almost 20 years and is very much alive as a loveable man in folklore. His tree-house became world famous with the Overlanders—is the first of its kind in this region, inspiring many to do the same. It was huge, a 1,500-sq ft made of sleepers and bamboo poles in a Peepal tree (Sacred Fig), had a bedroom, a guest-room, a huge dining hall on the upper floor, a well-equipped kitchen, electricity and running water supply. So many memorable moments are associated with this special home.
Spending a couple of evenings with Bo in the party settings of his farm was not just joyous but very educational. I learned a lot about the place, without much being said. Usually, he initiates a conversation, and lets his friends furnish details. The large influx of foreigners has inspired many young men here to travel abroad and explore and make a living, get rich. Therefore, the Khajuraho-Chhatarpur-Panna belt has people with a complex mix of native sensibilities and global aspirations. For some the gamble paid, they went abroad and did well for themselves, many others returned an unmitigated failure—but rich in experience.
The only time he gets out quiet demeanour is when he’s heartfully laughing or making a point succinctly. But he’s not not interested, it’s just that he doesn’t want to participate in everything that happens around him but is acutely aware of all that’s happening. I get the feeling that he understands people and their motivations. And accepting people as they are but at the same time holding one’s ground is easier said than done.
Bo is leading a beautiful life. I thought he’s like the sedate yet alive Ken River with lots of fishes in its belly, Bo is silent yet very engaging. He talks like a native to a native and a foreigner to a foreigner. To me he comes across as a person well-formed and informed, a deep sense of self-realisation, makes him deal well with people of all hues and descriptions. In that sense, being tacit serves a purpose, for he is about action, and not reaction.
In summers, he travels to a friend for a month in Uttarakhand and enjoys cooler climes.
Easy going, Bo establishes a connection with his guests, they leave gleefully with a promise to come back. He wants to give them a memorable experience, his persona is intrinsic to that memorable experience.
Biking is a passion, and acquiring bikes of his like is a thing that he indulges in. Nawab, his muscular Rottweiler, I thought, makes Bo possessive. "Are you more possessive about Nawab or is he more possessive about you?” I ask. His eyes dilate as he turns his head towards me, he ponders for a bit and betrays a smile. Appu affirms with a loud “yes!”
Appu is a big support. She is also in the hospitality industry and keeps things running smoothly.
She is full of life, vivacious and visionary too, has employed local women to cater to guests, and they have done well, and has had profound impact in their lives, not just in terms of economic empowerment, but in their changed attitudes.
The guests, I was one of them for two good days, felt welcomed, and overwhelmed by the humbleness of the local staff, and they opened an aspect very quintessential to the place. I have been to Khajuraho many times before, and always felt like a traveller. This time not. It goes without saying, locals like to work for Appu and Bo. And they make travellers feel at home.
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